


A Tricky Question

by State_of_Dreaming



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Also please know I don’t ship Maplekeene, Asexuality, But I hc Argo has a small crush on Fitz, But for the life of me I cannot write a decent second chapter, Canon Asexual Character, F/M, It’s not discussed, Just know it’s there, Might finish it, Might not, So I am sharing this first one and leaving it open-ended, This was supposed to be a love confession fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-20
Updated: 2020-08-20
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:14:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26001724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/State_of_Dreaming/pseuds/State_of_Dreaming
Summary: SPOILERS FOR TAZ GRADUATION EPISODE 21: LOOSE LIPS, SUNK SHIPSA little bit of writing set during episode 21 where Fitzroy contemplates the awkward conversation he had with Rainer before the Unbroken Chain trialAKAI’ve gone through all the Fitzrain content on Ao3, Instagram, Tiktok, and Tumblr (in that order) and still need more so I wrote some myself
Relationships: Sir Fitzroy Maplecourt/Rainer
Comments: 6
Kudos: 21





	A Tricky Question

**Author's Note:**

> So  
> I’ve been working on a lot of different She-ra stuff  
> But I am such a hardcore Fitzrain shipper, it’s not even funny  
> And episode 21 was aldfsdfjlgsfldkg  
> So  
> I wrote this
> 
> Please read the tags, this is not a completed fic and may never be a completed fic. There’s no big cliffhanger or anything, but know this probably won’t be finished so you are free to interpret the ending as you will. I’ve been sitting on this draft for 2 weeks trying to finish it and finally gave up. Idk why it’s been so difficult but I thought I’d share what I do have. If I ever come up with a good second chapter from Rainer’s perspective, I will add it.
> 
> This also took so long for me to share because I struggled with Fitzroy’s characterization a lot. We have such wildly different personalities, but I tried!
> 
> I consider myself demisexual and have never written from the perspective of a strictly asexual character before so I hope I did it right! Constructive critism is always welcome!

Sir Fitzroy Maplecourt, Knight (in absentia) of the realm Goodcastle had a big mouth. Sir Fitzroy Maplecourt, Knight (in absentia) of the realm of Goodcastle knew this about himself. All his life he had been a rambler who often said more than he should and despite his best efforts, always managed to mention something he wasn’t supposed to. Today, he’d gone and done it again.

Fitzroy mentally kicked himself all the way back to the Thundermen LLC dorm, purposefully walking ahead of his roommates. He could already feel their eyes on him and would rather be spared the embarrassment of actually catching their gazes from the corner of his eyes.

As he walked, he mulled over the very awkward conversation he just engaged in with Rainer Michelle. Where did things go south? Fitzroy had a simple enough plan for the meeting: 1) Double check that Rainer had no connection with Gray before 2) clueing her in on everything and 3) requesting a meeting with her super powerful liche father. Three things! That’s it!

But then he opened his stupid big mouth and blurted out what happened in his Chaos dream. Exactly what he told himself he wouldn’t do. That was a conversation to have with Rainer at a later date in a private setting after he’d really taken the time to think about it. Instead, he successfully embarrassed Rainer and himself in front of Argo and the Firbolg. And now his ignorant bliss was gone. Fitzroy was usually a _very_ oblivious guy, he’d admit it, but even he could now see Rainer liked him! Like, _liked_ liked him! How was he supposed to decipher his own feelings with that added weight to the sword already hanging over his head because they had a literal _war_ to prepare for? Plus he had to worry about the Unbroken Chain trail tonight. This day had _not_ gone as planned.

“So, you and Rainer huh?” Argo finally said, breaking Fitzroy’s train of thought. The poor half elf did not have the energy for this.

“No, no.” Fitzroy shook his head adamantly. “We are not talking about this right now.”

“If we knew ya were gonna discuss something private like that, we wouldn’t’ve come, right Firbolg?” Fitzroy could hear the smirk in the Water Genasi’s voice as he elbowed the third member of their party. It was positively infuriating.

“ _Well,_ we _weren’t supposed to discuss it!_ ” Fitzroy insisted before the Firbolg could respond. He turned to look at his two roommates but didn’t stop moving, walking backwards to keep in front of them. He glared at Argo who was smirking, as the half-elf had assumed, but the smile didn’t quite reach his eyes for whatever reason. Fitzroy did not want to think about that either.

“…buuuut you said it,” Master Firbolg hummed in his traditionally slow fashion.

“Yes, and I didn’t mean to, it just sort of _happened,_ okay?” Fitzroy gesticulated wildly in an failed attempt to aid his explanation.

“Okay, okay!” Argo held up his hands in defense. “We won’t talk about it.”

“Thank you.” Fitzroy said, a bit harsher than intended as he faced forward once again. Trying to stay ahead of his friends while walking backwards was surprisingly tiring.

It had begun to drizzle by the time their dorm building came into view and Fitzroy was so deep into his thoughts he wasn’t even thinking about the red fabric of his cloak that was surely getting ruined in the rain.

All he could focus on was the fact that he had never been more relieved to have the private room that came with his upgrade to the villain track. As long as no one talked for another minute, he’d be able to escape into his bedroom and hopefully Argo and Master Firbolg would forget this ever happened. Or maybe the trial that night would go downhill and they’d _all_ forget this ever happened. Fitzroy was finding this option more pleasing by the second.

The half elf held his breath as they approached the door, sure someone was going to break the silence and send him into a literal rage. He began counting his steps: _one…two…three—_

“…you haaave feelings foooor…Rainer.” Fitzroy could feel his eye starting to twitch.

“I do not! And I said we weren’t going to talk about it!” His voice was at least an octave higher than normal and Argo’s quiet snickering was not helping him calm down as he hurried inside. It took all his power to not lock the door before they entered and bolt to their room.

“…but it was aaaaa what’d you calllll it? Temptation…dream?” That got Fitzroy to pause for a split second but he quickly kept walking, shaking his head. He really did not want to think about this.

“Firby’s got a point Fitzroy, those dreams were based on our desires.”

Master Firbolg nodded. “Sooooo you must want…to be withhh her.”

“Or—” Fitzroy cleared his throat to return his voice to its normal pitch. “ _Or,_ Chaos must have gotten a bad read on me,” he said cooly as possible, entering their dorm and making a beeline for his room.

“Ya sure?” Argo asked, following him inside, Master Firbolg close behind. “Ya seem pretty worked up about this—”

“I’m taking a nap!”Fitzroy announced, ignoring his friend as he swung open his bedroom door.

“ _I thought ya didn’t sleep?_ ” Argo called after him, but the door was already closed.

~~~

Fitzroy pressed his back against the wall by his bedroom doorframe for a moment, waiting for Argo or the Firbolg to yell after him or come knocking, but he heard nothing. Luckily for him, they decided to leave him alone.

Satisfied, Fitzroy pushed off the wall and crossed the room to sit on his bed, resting his elbows on his knees letting his head fall into his hands. He then flicked a couple fingers in the air without looking up, summoning Snippers. The magical crab scuttled up to settle on his owner’s shoulder.

Fitzroy sighed and rocked his head to one side, peering between his fingers at Snippers. The manifestation of his magic simply stared back at him with beady, glowing eyes. The half elf frowned, removing his hands from his face and addressing the crab. “Don’t give me that look.”

Snippers didn’t respond.

“I already know I messed up, no need to rub it in.”

Still no answer.

“I just can’t control my mouth sometimes!” Fitzroy exclaimed, tossing his hands in the air before Snippers’ tightened grip on his shoulder reminded him the crab could fly off at any moment. He quickly lowered them and looked back at his familiar. “…Are you gonna say anything, or just stare at me, all disappointed?”

The crab finally responded with a long garbled sound (I have no idea how to describe what Travis does for Snippers, bare with me here) and Fitzroy leaned his cheek against one palm as he listening to the crab lecture, trying to interrupt whenever he could.

“Yes, I know I—you can’t blame me for—Snippers, it’s not—Snippers!”

The familiar did not pause, occasionally accentuating a point with a click of his pincers. Finally his speech came to an end with a questioning tone.

“Am I in love with Rainer?” Fitzroy asked as if repeating a question the crab had asked.

Snippers nodded in apparent confirmation.

Fitzroy stared at him, brows furrowed, unsure how to respond.

Was Fitzroy in love with Rainer Michelle? That was a tricky question.

He had never thought about Rainer in that way. Then again, Fitzroy never thought about anyone in that way. He had never been interested in intimate relationships. They simply did not appeal to him. He’d never even been on a real date. The first and only time Fitzroy had a “girlfriend” was in 5th grade. They were together for no more than a week and that went about as well as you would expect. When she tried to kiss him after school one day, he ran away and never talked to her again. Two days later she had a new boyfriend.

In high school most of his fellow students fell into relationships, but Fitzroy never minded. He was perfectly fine on his own. Then there was Clyde Nite’s Night Knight School, where he was always…out of place. He couldn’t get close to anyone there, let alone romantically involved. Not like there was anyone at Clyde Nite’s Night Knight School who wanted to be with him anyway.

But Master Firbolg and Argo’s words kept repeating in Fitzroy’s head. They were right. It _was_ a temptation dream. They’d all had one. He had to admit, it would make sense for Chaos, the literal _source_ of Fitzroy’s powers who appeared to be some kind of all-knowing being, to know how the half-elf felt. And based on his often oblivious nature, it was quite plausible for Chaos to know it before Fitzroy himself.

He sighed. There was no way to not think about this now.

On the one hand Rainer was a necromancer with creepy skeletons of woodland creatures who lived (are they living though?) in her chair and, by extension, on her person, 24/7.

On the other, Rainer was pretty and funny, and kind.

She was always put together in outfits that touched both her gentle, sweet side, and her darker, villainy side, and her long blond hair always looked good, no matter what style she had it in. Her taste in clothing and care for her appearance was something a man like Fitzroy, who spent hours crafting the perfect ensemble and meticulously styling his hair, could appreciate.

Even if he never voiced that appreciation out loud.

Then there was the way her bright eyes sparkled when she laughed. It made Fitzroy want to join in, even if he was the one she was laughing at. And he couldn’t deny how much he enjoyed her clever one-liners that seemed to roll off her tongue so naturally.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly to Fitzroy, she got him a crepe. _She got him a crepe_. She special ordered a breakfast dish for him, just because he was complaining about the food selection in the cafeteria!

Who else would do that?

If he was honest with himself, Rainer was one of the first people to be kind to Fitzroy in, well, _ever_. The haughty, conceited nature he’d developed from years of feeling inferior in Knight School didn’t faze her. It was like she saw right through it. Knew it wasn’t real. Maybe that’s why he felt so comfortable around her, even when he kept up the snooty act.

Rainer liked him for who he was underneath all that.

Fitzroy suddenly sat straight up, almost throwing Snippers off his shoulder again.

Maybe he _was_ in love Rainer Michelle.

And _maaaybe_ the skeletons weren’t that bad.

He knew what he had to do.

“Snippers! Go fetch daddy a pen.” The glowing crab chirped in response and hurried off to Fitzroy’s desk while the half elf reached for his Notebook of Farspeech, the one corresponding with Rainer’s birthday gift, and opened to the first page. When he looked to his right again, Snippers was already back on his bed, somehow balancing an inkwell on one claw while tightly grasping a feather in another.

“Thank you Snippers.” With that, Fitzroy plucked the quill from his familiar’s grasp and got to work.

**Author's Note:**

> I can’t get over the fact that Fitzroy refers to himself as “daddy when talking to Snippers.
> 
> Edit: I am now a cosplayer!! You can find me on tiktok at @izzib4 :)


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